Fleetwood Mac members announce new album

NEW YORK — Members of blues-rock powerhouse Fleetwood Mac on Tuesday announced a new album that will bring together all of the band’s classic lineup -- except Stevie Nicks.

Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham said the album would be the first by a duo of him and keyboardist Christine McVie, who rejoined Fleetwood Mac for a 2014-15 global tour after staying out of the spotlight for years.

Entitled simply Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie, the 10-track album will come out on June 9 followed by a US tour. The duo will release a first single, "In My World," on Friday.

The duo in a statement said that the two started working on new material when McVie joined rehearsals for the tour and "their natural creative chemistry was reignited".

Recording the album at the Los Angeles studio where Fleetwood Mac made its 1979 album Tusk, the pair was joined by two band mates -- drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie.

Notably absent from the recording sessions was Stevie Nicks, who has gone on to become the most identifiable member of Fleetwood Mac with a successful solo career led by her unique sandy voice.

Buckingham, in a 2014 interview with Billboard magazine, had said that Nicks was busy with other commitments when the others headed to the studio.

The part-British, part-US band was notorious for internal tensions which played out in the music. Nicks was romantically involved at times with Buckingham and Fleetwood, while Christine McVie was formerly married to John McVie.

Fleetwood Mac has not released a studio album since 2003’s Say You Will, on which Christine McVie was absent, but the reunited lineup with Nicks has become a major draw on the live circuit.

Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles will headline a new festival called The Classic in Los Angeles and New York in July. — AFP